Thursday 26 July 2007

Happy 40th Birthday Tanya

As some of you may or may not have noticed on my sidebar under the heading of "On the Needles" I had something entitled "Lacy Surprise" I can now reveal this is what it was....

First steps....

Nearly Halfway....

Pre-Blocking....




Blocking...



Finished!!!




As you've probably all guessed by now this is Hanami by the talented Melanie otherwise known as Pink Lemon Twist, the creator of the Mystery Stole along that's gripping the lace knitting world at the moment..... It's a beautiful and unusual pattern in that it's asymmetrical and as always with PLT it has a theme....

For those of you out there contemplating knitting this, do so it's quite an easy pattern to work. One tip I would say is when you get to the non-basket weave section I would highlight either all the K2tog or the Sl1-K2tog-psso making it easier when you're knitting from the chart to see what is what when glancing down at the chart. I also wrote the number of all the plain knit stitches between these other stitches so I wasn't counting all the time and it did make it a lot easier and quicker..... Here's the details of materials I used...

Yarn: Yarn Treehouse Bloom Colour C09 yarn held double to give correct weight for pattern

Needles: Knit Pick Classic Circ 3.25mm

Beads: Size 9 Güttermann Blue lined Lilac seed beads

Variations:I omitted the ruffle option and worked 6 garter stitch rows after the last pattern block and added beads on the CO edge



It probably took me 5 weeks of knitting but I was only knitting 5 out of every 7, due to my lace knitting schedule I've set up to allow me to work on different projects ; yes I know it sounds sad but at least all my projects get attention and it works for me.... some days I did more, others I didn't do any.

I loved knitting the stole and would definitely do another at a future date which I think is always a good recommendation for a pattern, the basket weave after doing the first repeat was probably the most enjoyable bit.... I think when I do a second one of these then I would perhaps repeat chart C a 2nd time, repeat half of chart F again and finally just do half the number of rows of Chart G.


The yarn from Yarn Treehouse was as lovely as ever and think it lends itself well to the pattern.... I had 10g left out of 2 x 50g balls (held double) working an extra repeat of basket weave and a further full repeat of Chart G.

As you've probably now guessed from the title of this post this is for my friend Tanya who is 40 today; I couldn't post any earlier as she reads my blog from time to time and I didn't want to give the surprise away.... that's the only drawback of your knitting friends who read your blog you can't post photos and details of their presents as you knit!!!!

So Tanya when you read this I hope you had a lovely and memorable 40th birthday despite yet more rain.......


HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY TANYA!!!!!







4 comments:

Kai said...

Happy Birthday Tanya!! :)

It's a lovely stole and a stunning colour. Love it. I've been umm'ing and ah'ing about making this and i love the one you've made!! I think you've made my decision for me! :)

Soo said...

Happy Birthday Tanya!!

What a gorgeous gift.

fleegle said...

Very very pretty! Is the yarn the same stuff as JoJoLand?

LittleBerry said...

Yes it is Fleegle.... nice to knit with too... I have another two balls in my stash ;)